Temasek, the investment company owned by the government of Singapore, has issued a response to what it called a "divisive, racist campaign" which also involved "false claims".

Employees from India targeted by social media posts

Temasek said that some of its employees from India had been "targeted" on social media, in a statement posted on its website on Aug. 14.

Temasek said that it had referred the offending posts to Facebook, citing "clear breach of their own community guidelines on hate speech".

It said that it would "continue to press them to be more active in stamping out such hate speech, wherever it occurs on their platforms."

It did not mention the allegations made in the posts, although The Straits Times reported that Facebook posts circulating in recent days had called attention to the LinkedIn profiles of Temasek employees, questioning why top positions in the firm were not filled by locals.

In response to queries from Mothership, Facebook said that it had reviewed the posts in question, and that the posts with content which offended its policies were removed.

Temasek reveals employee demographics

Temasek's statement also disclosed some details of its demographics, in apparent response to the content of the posts.

Temasek said that Singapore Citizens and Permanent Residents (PRs) made up 90 per cent of its 600 Singapore staff, adding that the breakdown among its senior leadership was "broadly the same".

It explained that locals "form the vast majority" in each of its offices, including its Singapore office, as this was "only natural and practical".

The statement also revealed that Singaporeans make up about 60 per cent of its global hires, while another 10 per cent are Singapore PRs.

Temasek said that its workforce includes employees from 32 nationalities, across its offices in eight countries.

It said that the top five countries represented among its employees were China with nine per cent, USA with seven percent, India with six per cent, as well as the U.K. and Malaysia with three per cent each.

It said that the composition of nationalities would, however, "continue to change as we work towards opening more offices in Asia, Europe and elsewhere".

"Foolish" to not tap on global talent

Temasek added that "it will be foolish of us not to tap on the global pool of talent" as a global investor and a forward-looking institution.

It pointed to value in diversity as well as its ability to "connect the diverse dots", which it said was one of its key strengths.

It also said that it would stand against "views that seek to perpetrate division and disrupt the social cohesion that has taken many years for us to achieve here in Singapore."

Top photo via Temasek website